Ciencias de la tierra

Lecture I - Climate

The physical setting

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Contents:

Solar radiation and latitude

The cooling effect of elevation
winds and rainfall
precipitation patterns
small scale spatial and temporal variation
Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Species have limited distributions

with a few exceptions :

Causes: Physical environment,
ecological and historical settings

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

To understand the Physical variations in our planet:

cold and hot places
seasons
distribution of fresh and salt water
We need to know:
The position of the earth relative to the sun
size and location of the point of interest
basic knowledge of thermodynamics
And recognize the types of energy shaping the
dynamics:
energy from the earths core
energy from the sun
Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Solar radiation and latitude

Heat is transfer from objects with high temperature
to objects with low temperature:
conduction
Interesting points:
convection
surface absorbs more than atmosphere
soil gets hotter
radiation
air gets warm at the surface
radiation

radiation

absorption

absorption
soil
Tuesday, August 3, 2010

reflection (long wave)

reflection

absorption
water

reflection

Solar radiation and latitude

The quantity of heat absorbed changes with the
latitude:
Observations:

A2

H2

A1

B1 = B2
A1 < A2 (more energy per unit area)
H1 < H2 (more energy hits the surface)

B2
H1
B1

Interesting points:
This is why is hotter at noon
This is why south facing hills are warmer
than north facing hills (northern
hemisphere)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Solar radiation and latitude

The earth is tilted 23.5 degrees: The seasons

Text

Interesting points:
In theory every place on earth gets the same amount of light
Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The cooling effect of altitude

Is cooler at high altitude because:
adiabatic cooling (10 degrees per Km dry and 6
degrees per km moist)
higher rate of heat loss due to less dense air
2 km

4C

1 km
10C /km
20C

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Rain shadow

6C /km

10C /km

10C

14C
10C /km
24C

Winds and Rainfall

Interesting points:
coriolis effect deflect the trajectories
how to navigate in these patterns
winds generate major currents

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

wind patterns January (top) July (bottom)

Winds and Rainfall

The oceanic currents

Interesting points:
the trades push water west at the equator
the westerlies push water east
clockwise movement in the north hemisphere and counter clockwise in the south
warm waters bath east continental margins
Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Precipitation patterns
If we combine wind, temperature and currents we can
understand global distribution of rainfall:
warm air can hold more water.
As it cools it reaches dew point and saturation occurs
further cooling produces condensation and formation of
clouds
heavy clouds fall
We observe:
in the tropics warm, moist air rises and rains happens at low
and medium heights
rainy seasons in the tropics usually happen at the equinox
tropical grass lands in Kenya (at the equator but at medium
height) get two wet seasons, areas around the tropic of
cancer in mexico get one rainy season during the summer
Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Precipitation patterns
We observe (continues):
the horse latitudes (30 degrees) are dry because as the cool
dry air descends it gets warmer and can hold more water
that comes from the soil. There we found the Mojave,
Sonora, Sahara and Chihuahua
The regions (belts) around horse latitudes exhibit rainy mild
winters and dry cool summers.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Precipitation patterns
We observe (continues):
the horse latitudes (30 degrees) are dry because as the cool
dry air descends it gets warmer and can hold more water
that comes from the soil. There we found the Mojave,
Sonora, Sahara and Chihuahua
The regions (belts) around horse latitudes exhibit rainy mild
winters and dry cool summers.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

small scale spatial and temporal variation

Californias climate
summer

winter

air warms and retain water

cool water
rel. to soil

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

westerlies

air cools and release water

warm water
rel. to soil

westerlies